Scientists name extinct creature after “The Hobbit” character
Recommended for Middle Grades
Have you ever read The Hobbit? This is a famous novel written by J.R.R Tolkien. In the novel, hobbits are a type of humans who are sort of short and lazy. One of the creatures that the hobbits meet in the novel is an enormous, shape-shifting warrior named Beorn.
Recently, palaeontologists have discovered an extinct mammal that came to life during the Paleocene Epoch and after the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Scientists have named this furry and puffy cheeked, dog-like creature Beornus Honeyi after Beorn in The Hobbit. This animal belonged to a mammal family called Condylarths.
Other Condylarths were only about the size of rats but Beornus was about the size of a house cat. So, scientists said that they chose to name it after Beorn. Beorn in The Hobbit was also known to be a giant, compared to other members of its group.
What is the Paleocene Epoch?
The Paleocene epoch is a biological period in Earth’s history and it lasted about 66 to 56 million years ago.
Are you interested in learning about fossils? Fossils are parts of an animal or plant that lived thousands or millions of years ago which has turned into rock. They include bones, shells, exoskeletons, objects preserved in amber, hair, and even oil and coal. The study of fossils is called palaeontology. Studying fossils helps us understand more about life in ancient times and its connection to our world today. Keep reading Curious Times to know what scientists are discovering about Earth’s past.
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